1434 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
An Auto Run in Central New York 
The Livingston County Farm Bureau 
drive or auto trip occurred on Labor Day. 
It was a very cold, cloudy morning, and 
fewer undertook the trip than would have 
done so had we had more favorable con¬ 
ditions. The different trial plots of 
Luce's Favorite corn, or beautiful fields 
of this variety, were of especial interest 
from the fact' that it is such a good ex¬ 
ample of the advantages of co-operation 
among farmers, as. from the time the seed 
was grown on Long Island, all through 
the different stages of inspection, drying, 
advertising or publicity given the variety, 
sale and distribution, it was the product 
of farmers’ co-operative associations. The 
picture on this page shows a small part of 
a group of farmers and the Farm Bureau 
agent or manager, who is calling attention 
to the results of the test plot of this va¬ 
riety compared with others. 
Not the least attraction on this drive 
was the section through which we passed, 
the beautiful hills and valleys, and for 
several miles along Hemlock Lake from 
Springwater in the valley, at one end. up 
over the hill, commanding a view of this 
beautiful lake from which the city of 
Rochester draws its water supply, on to 
the Rochester city public grounds at the 
other end of the lake, where stop was 
made for basket lunch. The expenditure 
of large sums of money in the purchase of 
properties along this lake, including many 
farms or portious of same, and the re¬ 
foresting of the hillsides sloping to the 
lake, and the protection of the beautiful 
wooded slope, is fully justified in the re¬ 
sults obtained. A great deal of the same 
kind of work is being done along Cana- 
dice Lake, which lies near by. and about 
200 feet higher elevation, from which can 
be drawn extra supplies of pure water 
when needed. 
One of the stops was made at the foot 
of one of the beautiful hills, where the 
owner of the property had piped water 
from a small stream above his house. 
This was not only a s< iree of water sup¬ 
ply. but for turning a wheel, which pro¬ 
vided power for electric light, heat, and 
the same power converted into a more 
convenient method of handling it in driv¬ 
ing machinery. The stream above was 
formed into a reservoir by a substantially 
built concrete dam. and was only one of 
many instances where similar plants can 
be installed. 
A considerable portion of this drive 
took us through a section where the po¬ 
tato is grown to considerable extent as 
the principal money crop, but on the en¬ 
tire drive of over 100 miles, the poor con¬ 
dition of the potatp fields was very no¬ 
ticeable. In practically every case from 
two weeks to a month would still be 
needed to mature even a moderate crop, 
while a very large part of the acreage 
showed very poor stand, and only a light 
crop can result in any event. To one in¬ 
terested in the condition of the potato 
crop, but one field was seen in the entire 
distance measured up to what would be 
called a good field of potatoes during an 
ordinary year. 
While this country does not figure very 
largely at any time in the apple situation, 
the shortage of apples will figure largely 
in most of the orchards passed on this 
trip, there being very few trees indeed 
that showed any fruit whatever. 
One of the stops made was to see work 
being done in commercial pork production 
and incidentally what one of the boys was 
doing, who was a member of the pig club. 
The boy had some fine stock to show, and 
he could be justly proud of his success. 
On this farm were being fed about 150 
pigs, and the strangest part of it was 
that it was being done at a good profit, 
if the owner was not mistaken. The 
pasture upon which they were allowed 
to run was short and poor, and all the 
grain fed was bought. The $45 per ton 
grouud feed was placed in 
also $100 per ton tankage, 
and the pigs did their own 
water nearby. It was 
large batch of 200-lb. 
poor, 
The 
self feeders, 
all fed dry, 
mixing with 
understood that a 
hogs had recently 
been turned off at a good profit by this 
method of feeding, though it seemed as 
though the impossible had been achieved, 
especially as it is so generally considered 
that the* most profit is in turning into 
cash at lighter weights, and the pigs 
seemed to waste considerable of the grain, 
as a handful of the dry dirt underfoot in 
the building where the feeders were 
showed this. 
Stops were made at dairy and stock 
farms and other points of interest to mem¬ 
bers of the party, following out a prev¬ 
iously arranged schedule. One interesting 
experiment with Alfalfa and Sweet clover 
showed a field of the latter sown on 
wheat in Spring, and had been used for 
pasture, evidently without detriment to 
the clover and not likely to the cows. 
An adjoining field had been sown to a 
mixture of Sweet clover, Alsikc and Al¬ 
falfa, but at the time of the visit, nothing 
was showing but a rank growth of Al¬ 
falfa. the Sweet clover and Alsike having 
entirely disappeared, both having been 
cut too late to make second growth. About 
six quarts of the mixture had been used, 
and probably not over five or six pounds 
of Alfalfa seed per acre would have been 
in the mixture, as the owner thought, and 
yet there was a beautiful stand, both of 
the Grimm and common Alfalfa. 
One strange thing that was noticed, 
even in so small a territory as this county 
covers, was that a portion" of the county 
has been suffering recently with so. much 
rain, or such frequent showers, that it 
had been almost impossible to "get second 
cutting of Alfalfa, also oats and barley, 
dry enough to haul in. and the start of the 
drive from this immediate vicinity was 
over roads so muddy that chains were 
needed, while a few miles further on the 
roads become uncomfortably dusty, and 
showed that but little rain had fallen 
recently. Farmers were complaining that 
tion. Now it may be possible to control 
th Canada thistle by this means, but I 
would a great deal rather tackle witch 
grass. In the first place, the. root of . the 
thistle is as tenacious of life as that of 
the witch grass, and. in the second place, 
there are millions of thistle seeds lying 
dormant in the ground waiting for favor¬ 
able conditions for germination. They will 
remain in this condition for 12 years, to 
my certain knowledge, and I have no 
idea as to how much longer. The Canada 
thistle, however, has a weak point, and 
this is right at its crown. If the stalk 
is cut off a little below the lowest leaves, 
and just as the plant is beginning to blos¬ 
som. the stub will decay, and the decay 
will extend to the crown and destroy it, 
September 27, 1010 
stance will be to take a scythe next Sum¬ 
mer, just as the plants begin to blossom, 
and cut. every plant just as directed. Of 
course the plants will, not mature evenly, 
and it will be impossible to hit all at the 
critical moment. .More than this, the 
tramping of cattle and various other fac¬ 
tors will make conditions favorable for 
the germination of seeds in the ground, 
so that new plants will appear. But there 
will be a great diminution in the number 
of thistles the following year, and, if 
persistently followed for a few years, this 
method will result iu the total eradication 
of the thistles. c. o. ormsbee. 
Vermont. 
If If. B. G. can get a couple of Western 
jackasses, and they should be compara¬ 
tively cheap, they will, in a couple of 
years, account for all of his.thistles. I 
have heard mules would do the same, but 
do not know positively. But the jack 
will, and you can run any other kind of 
stock with it. 5t. B. Y. 
Pennsylvania. 
II. G. B. asks how to eradicate Canada 
thistles on a stony hillside 60-acre field. 
This can be done by using the same acid 
solution the railroad companies spray on 
their tracks, which kills every weed and 
green thing it touches. It is a rank 
poison: no stock should go on it. for a 
long time after it is sprayed. S. C. c. 
New .Tersey. 
Farmers and Farm Bureau Agent &fudging Luce's Favorite Corn 
it had been so dry the land was almost 
too hard to plow for Fall grain. As often 
happens we did not know when we were 
well off. I. C. R. 
Eradication of Canada Thistles 
On page 1206. there is an inquiry in 
regard to the best method for the eradi¬ 
cation of Canada thistles, and the answer 
suggests plowing and thorough cultiva¬ 
and the root itself will die. But, iu cut¬ 
ting. the above named points must be ob¬ 
served. If the stalk is cut above the 
leaves, the root will continue to live and 
the plant will be as troublesome as ever 
the following year. If the plant is too 
mature, the stub will dry before decaying 
and no beneficial results will follow. If 
not sufficiently mature new shoots will 
appear, and the plant will suffer little in¬ 
jury. The best method in the present iu- 
Destroying Burdocks 
On page 1,202 "Wesley Webb. Delaware, 
gives his method of killing burdocks, 
which is very good. Another very good 
way, and quite easy if attended to when 
the plants are young, is to use a sharp 
tool called a spud. As the burdock has 
just one long tap root, if the spud is 
used so as to cut the root off completely 
just below the surface of the ground, all 
trouble is ended, as the root will not 
branch Tip again. The leaves are soon 
dried up and goue. This method is very 
effectual. All who are bothered with this 
troublesome weed please try this. C. D. 
Moravia, N. Y. 
Milk Profits 
How to Make Them 
Your milk profits depend more upon feed than any other one thing. 
You are not going to get the profits you deserve until you feed the 
right feed and that feed is 
HAPPY COW FEED 
(24% PROTEIN) 
If all the mixed feeds were made of honest 
feeding materials, the National feed bill now 
before congress would never have been written. 
The Lever Feed Bill will protect farmers against 
low grade feed. 
We are heartily in favor of this new law. We 
do not buy oat hulls, rice hulls, screenings or 
any other low grade material for any of our 
feeds. 
Happy Cow Feed is the highest grade 
balanced dairy ration that science can make. 
It is good because it is made of milk-making 
feed stuffs, most of which are grown exclusively 
in the Southern states. 
Happy Cow Feed id made of cotton seed meal, 
corn meal, cocoanut meal, wheat bran, velvet 
bean feed, unhulled peanut oil feed, alfalfa meal 
and a small amount of salt. 
Happy Cow Feed contains twenty-four per 
cent, protein. The ingredients are properly 
proportioned, thoroughly ground and mixed. It 
is a digestible feed. 
You can buy Happy Cow Feed with full confi¬ 
dence that it will rriake you more net profit than 
any other feed at any price. 
Even if you had all the ingredients in your 
own bam, you could not mix as good a ration 
without our scientific milling equipment and 
experience. 
We manufacture only high grade feed prod¬ 
ucts. We do not buy grain for human foods 
and use the low grade and almost worthless 
refuse as a feed for livestock. 
Happy Cow Feed and other feeds sold under 
this popular name will make you happy. A 
trial order will settle your feed problems for all 
time to come. 
Buy through your dealer. If he does not sell 
Happy Cow Feed send us his name and we will 
see that you are supplied. 
Address Dep’t 125 
Edgar-Morgan Co. Memphis, Tenn. 
